The information provided
in this document has been compiled from various sources, and the National
Orphaned/Abandoned Mines Initiative Advisory Committee makes no representation
and takes no responsibility that such information is accurate, current or complete.
The reader is advised to undertake his or her own independent investigation to
validate this information.

All Canadian
provinces and territories with a history of mining and several federal
agencies maintain their own inventory of mining and exploration
sites that pose a risk to human health and safety or to the environment.
Many of these inventories only contain the sites that are known
to pose a risk and that are now the responsibility of the jurisdiction.
There is a large discrepancy in the level of detail and coverage
of these inventories from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. Thus, in
order to obtain a Canada-wide perspective of the issue, a national
database had to account for these gaps in coverage, detail and standardization.
Furthermore, a system that builds on the strengths of the individual
inventories and does not impact their current operational status
had to be privileged.

The NOAMI Inventory is a web portal incorporating
Inactive Mineral Site inventories
from participating Canadian jurisdictions. Information is displayed
in accordance to an umbrella NOAMI
Definition permitting data from the various jurisdictions to
be displayed simultaneously in a coherent manner. A web portal approach
is used whenever possible, providing users with a link to the original
data source.

Users are encouraged
to familiarize themselves with the NOAMI
Definition applied in the portal to display the data as well
as the various definitions and particularities in respect to each
jurisdictional inventory while considering the limitations of the
data.

Background
Orphaned or abandoned mines are those mines for which the owner
cannot be found or for which the owner is financially unable or
unwilling to carry out clean-up. They pose environmental, health,
safety and economic problems to communities, the mining industry
and governments in many countries, including Canada.

Abandoned mines
exist within all mining jurisdictions in Canada. These sites, however,
in some instances are not well documented with respect to either
their numbers or their associated physical/health/environmental
impacts and liabilities. Further research and compilation of information
on abandoned mines is necessary to enable sound decision-making,
cost-efficient planning and sustainable rehabilitation. Such information
is also necessary to ensure transparency of decision-making and
access to information by governments, civil society, industry and
other stakeholders.

The National
Orphaned/Abandoned Mines Advisory Committee (NOAMI) was struck
in March 2002 at the request of Canadian Mines Ministers that a
multi-stakeholder advisory committee be set up to study various
issues and initiatives relating to the development of partnerships
in the implementation of remediation programs across Canada.

The Advisory
Committee takes direction from Mines Ministers and reports back
to Mines Ministers via the Intergovernmental Working Group on the
Mineral Industry (IGWG).

Various task
groups have been established by NOAMI to undertake in-depth analysis
of a variety of issues and to provide recommendations and advice
to the Committee. One such task group was assigned the responsibility
for information gathering and had the mandate to develop capacity
for a national inventory of orphaned/abandoned mine sites.

Thus, NOAMI,
in collaboration with numerous partners including provinces, territories
and several federal departments and agencies have joined their efforts
in order to provide Canadians and other stakeholders with access
to the NOAMI Inventory of Orphaned/Abandoned Mines.

The dedicated efforts of the late Ward Kilby, Caleen Kilby (Cal Data Ltd.) and Suzanne Richer (Mozaika Geomatics) in the development of the NOAMI inventory are much appreciated.